Tipped Off
07-13-2006, 05:57 PM
Hard work could be ticket to NHL
http://www.richmondreview.com/portals-code/list.cgi?paper=45&cat=40&id=685850&more=
Zach Hamill, a projected first-rounder in the 2007 NHL Entry Draft, worked out with skating coach Derek Popke in Richmond this week. Hamill, 17, is the only underage player who was inivited to try out for the Canadian junior hockey team which is holding its summer camp July 23 to 28 in Calgary.
By Don Fennell
Sports Editor
Jul 08 2006
Zach Hamill has always been a quick study.
But perhaps because of this, he's not quite as ready to concede his future in pro hockey as so many others are.
Hamill, 17, is widely seen as one of the top junior players in the country and was invited to Hockey Canada's junior summer camp July 23 to 28 in Calgary-the only underage to receive the honour.
The Everett Silvertips forward is also a projected first-rounder in next summer's NHL draft to be held in Columbus, Ohio. And no wonder. A smooth skater and blessed with an abundance of natural offensive skills, he's as aware of the need to check as to score. In other words, he's the complete player teams covet.
Hamill, who works out in Richmond with a host of other NHL prospects-and soon-to-be pros-doesn't take any part of his game for granted. Including skating.
Earlier this week, he joined pro skating coach Derek Popke for an on-ice session.
"He started as a pretty upright skater," says Popke, who has been working with Hamill for the last three years. "But after a full season in the Western League (he was the top 16-year-old scorer with 33 points in 57 games in 2004-05), and once he started to train a little harder, he's become (a more complete skater). What we're working on now is just fine-tuning the little things like explosiveness from a dead stop and being able to change speed to drive around defenceman.
"His skill is above average but you can always get stronger when it comes to speed, explosiveness, and change of pace," adds Popke.
Hard work is clearly in Hamill's repertoire. He was training Wednesday when the call from Hockey Canada came.
"My sister took the call," he says.
"I was pretty excited. It's something I was looking forward to and now I've got to go and work harder. There are a lot of top players going and not many spots open."
Hamill's international experience should put him in good stead though. He made the under-18 World Cup team earlier this year, was part of Team Pacific at the world under-17 challenge the previous season, and also played for Team WHL in a Canada-Russia challenge.
Like many Canadian boys, Hamill laced up his first pair of skates-hockey stick in hand-when he was about three or four. Since then he's taken continuous if not spectacular strides. A former member of his hometown Port Coquitlam Buckaroos of the PIJHL, he was only 15 when he joined the expansion Silvertips for their maiden playoff voyage in 2003-04. After picking up two assists in four regular-season games, he had three goals and five points in 20 playoff games.
One of Hamill's three goals-his first in the WHL-was particularly memorable.
"It was my third game against Spokane," he recalls. "We were up 4-1 but they came back and tied it and forced overtime. If we won we'd be up 3-0 (in the series) or a loss and it would be 2-1 and they'd have momentum. Ten minutes in the puck came to the slot and I shot it low to the corner and it went in. It was pretty special."
Everett went on to play in the league final.
Hamill was still considered a rookie when he returned to Everett for the 2004-05 season, but the playoff run helped him feel already ensconced in the Silvertips' room.
"I knew all the players from the first year and knew the system," he says.
Having former NHL coach Kevin Constantine, a known disciplinarian in the Sutter brothers mold, back behind the bench didn't hurt Hamill's progress either.
"He's a pro and expects the best from you," Hamill says. "But if anything that helps and I respect that in him."
Last season, Hamill continued his ascent to the pros with another strong all-around season. He was second in Silvertips scoring (21 goals and 59 points in 53 games) to good friend and workout buddy John Lammers (who this summer signed a three-year contract with the NHL's Dallas Stars). He added another 14 points in 15 playoff games, which included a four-assist effort in one of the outings.
Currently a slight five-foot-11, 165-pound centre, Hamill plays a style of game that might remind one of Joe Sakic of the Colorado Avalanche or even his boyhood idol Steve Yzerman, who just retired from the Detroit Red Wings. Like Sakic and Yzerman, Hamill is a gentlemanly player who takes few penalties but is still competitive and doesn't take even a shift off.
Still, the mere thought of following Sakic and Yzerman's foosteps into the NHL makes Hamill nervous.
"I don't think words can explain what it would mean," he says.
http://www.richmondreview.com/portals-code/list.cgi?paper=45&cat=40&id=685850&more=
Zach Hamill, a projected first-rounder in the 2007 NHL Entry Draft, worked out with skating coach Derek Popke in Richmond this week. Hamill, 17, is the only underage player who was inivited to try out for the Canadian junior hockey team which is holding its summer camp July 23 to 28 in Calgary.
By Don Fennell
Sports Editor
Jul 08 2006
Zach Hamill has always been a quick study.
But perhaps because of this, he's not quite as ready to concede his future in pro hockey as so many others are.
Hamill, 17, is widely seen as one of the top junior players in the country and was invited to Hockey Canada's junior summer camp July 23 to 28 in Calgary-the only underage to receive the honour.
The Everett Silvertips forward is also a projected first-rounder in next summer's NHL draft to be held in Columbus, Ohio. And no wonder. A smooth skater and blessed with an abundance of natural offensive skills, he's as aware of the need to check as to score. In other words, he's the complete player teams covet.
Hamill, who works out in Richmond with a host of other NHL prospects-and soon-to-be pros-doesn't take any part of his game for granted. Including skating.
Earlier this week, he joined pro skating coach Derek Popke for an on-ice session.
"He started as a pretty upright skater," says Popke, who has been working with Hamill for the last three years. "But after a full season in the Western League (he was the top 16-year-old scorer with 33 points in 57 games in 2004-05), and once he started to train a little harder, he's become (a more complete skater). What we're working on now is just fine-tuning the little things like explosiveness from a dead stop and being able to change speed to drive around defenceman.
"His skill is above average but you can always get stronger when it comes to speed, explosiveness, and change of pace," adds Popke.
Hard work is clearly in Hamill's repertoire. He was training Wednesday when the call from Hockey Canada came.
"My sister took the call," he says.
"I was pretty excited. It's something I was looking forward to and now I've got to go and work harder. There are a lot of top players going and not many spots open."
Hamill's international experience should put him in good stead though. He made the under-18 World Cup team earlier this year, was part of Team Pacific at the world under-17 challenge the previous season, and also played for Team WHL in a Canada-Russia challenge.
Like many Canadian boys, Hamill laced up his first pair of skates-hockey stick in hand-when he was about three or four. Since then he's taken continuous if not spectacular strides. A former member of his hometown Port Coquitlam Buckaroos of the PIJHL, he was only 15 when he joined the expansion Silvertips for their maiden playoff voyage in 2003-04. After picking up two assists in four regular-season games, he had three goals and five points in 20 playoff games.
One of Hamill's three goals-his first in the WHL-was particularly memorable.
"It was my third game against Spokane," he recalls. "We were up 4-1 but they came back and tied it and forced overtime. If we won we'd be up 3-0 (in the series) or a loss and it would be 2-1 and they'd have momentum. Ten minutes in the puck came to the slot and I shot it low to the corner and it went in. It was pretty special."
Everett went on to play in the league final.
Hamill was still considered a rookie when he returned to Everett for the 2004-05 season, but the playoff run helped him feel already ensconced in the Silvertips' room.
"I knew all the players from the first year and knew the system," he says.
Having former NHL coach Kevin Constantine, a known disciplinarian in the Sutter brothers mold, back behind the bench didn't hurt Hamill's progress either.
"He's a pro and expects the best from you," Hamill says. "But if anything that helps and I respect that in him."
Last season, Hamill continued his ascent to the pros with another strong all-around season. He was second in Silvertips scoring (21 goals and 59 points in 53 games) to good friend and workout buddy John Lammers (who this summer signed a three-year contract with the NHL's Dallas Stars). He added another 14 points in 15 playoff games, which included a four-assist effort in one of the outings.
Currently a slight five-foot-11, 165-pound centre, Hamill plays a style of game that might remind one of Joe Sakic of the Colorado Avalanche or even his boyhood idol Steve Yzerman, who just retired from the Detroit Red Wings. Like Sakic and Yzerman, Hamill is a gentlemanly player who takes few penalties but is still competitive and doesn't take even a shift off.
Still, the mere thought of following Sakic and Yzerman's foosteps into the NHL makes Hamill nervous.
"I don't think words can explain what it would mean," he says.